The Super Bowl Challenge: Feeding The Hungry Masses

January 28, 1988|By Anne Willan.

Last fall I posed a challenge: A dozen teenagers arrived one Sunday to watch football on television. ``We`ll be hungry, Mom,`` was their only instruction to me. Not for me the last-minute anxieties of hamburger or a homemade pizza. I cooked up this menu well in advance, set it on the hot plate and left it up to them.

It should serve just as well for Superbowl Sunday.

The Pennsylvania Dutch have a way with stews, adding spices, dried fruits and often a touch of sour vinegar or lemon juice to balance the sweet. With a rich meat like pork, the combination is perfect. Stews like this are remarkably simple and need almost no attention during cooking. They reheat well, and the flavor mellows on keeping.

What could be more satisfying than pork stew with cornmeal and cheese?

Here yellow or white cornmeal is simmered with milk to a smooth mush, then left to set and be cut into squares. When layered in a dish and sprinkled with cheese and butter, the squares bake to a delicious brown and fragrant offering, resembling Italian polenta. They are a good accompaniment to beef stew as well as the pork or stand alone as a warming winter appetizer.

Salad in winter can be a puzzle if you want to avoid faded hothouse lettuce. Root vegetables come into their own in mixtures such as this classic beet, Belgian endive and watercress salad. Less expensive curly endive can replace the Belgian endive; and in Europe, where the salad originates, velvety lamb`s lettuce, also called mache, is used instead of watercress-excellent if you can find it. All the vegetables can be prepared ahead, but do not toss them with the dressing until the last minute because the beets will bleed their color.

Aunt Ruth was a character I met when visiting the Pennsylvania Dutch country. A grand old lady she was, whose children profited from her talent for cooking by selling her wares in the local farmers` market. When I was there, the day`s offering was a moist apple pandowdy flavored with molasses and turned out like an upsidedown cake. To the mix I`ve added some tart rhubarb, just coming into season. Served plain or topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it`s a tactic bound to succeed for Sunday`s Super Bowl fans.

PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH PORK STEW

12 servings

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 2 hours

4 pounds boneless pork shoulder

6 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons oil

3 cups stock or water, more if needed

8 ounces pitted prunes

6 ounces dried apricots

2/3 cup raisins

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut pork into 1 1/2-inch cubes. Season flour with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Toss pork in it until well coated. Heat oil in flameproof casserole and fry pork cubes, a few at a time, until well browned. Remove and continue to fry remaining pork. Replace pork cubes in pan; add stock or water. Cover, heat to boil and then bake for 1 hour.

2. Meanwhile, put dried prunes, apricots and raisins in bowl. Pour boiling water over to cover. Leave to soak. After 1 hour, drain fruits. Stir fruits into pork with more stock or water if pan seems dry. Cover and continue baking 30 to 45 minutes longer or until pork and fruits are tender.

3. Add lemon juice to sauce; taste for seasoning. Stew can be refrigerated up to 3 days, or frozen.

4. To finish, reheat stew on top of stove. Take from heat and add butter, shaking pan so butter melts and mixes into sauce.

2. Return milk to pan and gradually whisk in cornmeal. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, until mixture is thick but still falls easily from spoon, 5 to 8 minutes. (Note: Mixture should not be sticky. If necessary, add more milk.)

3. Take pan from heat and beat in egg yolks, one at a time, so they thicken in heat of mixture. Stir in half of cheese with mustard. Taste for seasoning. Spread mixture in prepared pan to form 1/2-inch layer. Brush top with melted butter; chill 2 hours or until set.